CRISOLISM AND THE RELEVANCE OF DUGIN´S FOURTH POLITICAL THEORY FOR PERU AND LATIN AMERICA

Peasakid

1. A prelude to Crisolism: philosophy as creative repetition

Louis Althusser was, perhaps, the last of the epigones of the scholastic conception of a philosophia perennis, philosophy as a constant repetition or a return in the same, in a Nietzschean style.

But what is this about the same? What is the sameness of the same which returns in the a-historical destiny of philosophy? Alain Badiou[1] asks himself this in a brief essay. He gives us some interesting approaches from the Althussian proposal, but to answer these questions, we necessarily have to broach the matter with the very essence of philosophy. This essence according to Badiou, and around the debate, can be understood from two angles. One side refers to philosophy as a reflexive knowledge, self-knowledge of reason[2] in the theoretical sphere, and as a knowledge of the values __that govern our life in a more practical sphere. In this way, the philosopher is a professor, like Kant, Hegel, Husserl, etc.

The other side sees philosophy not as a knowledge, neither theoretical nor practical itself, but as a direct transformation of a subject. In the sense of «Socrates speaking to young men in the streets of Athens; like Descartes writing letters to Princess Elizabeth; like Jean-Jacques Rousseau writing his confessions; or also the Nietzsche or the novels or Sartre plays...(…). The difference is that philosophy is no longer knowledge, or knowledge of knowledge. It is an action. One could say that what identifies philosophy is not the rules of a discourse, but the singularity of an act»[3]. Althusser, a Marxist, advocates for this active vision of philosophy, defining it as a political struggle in the theoretical field.

Badiou rescues from these considerations two fundamental things: 1. The philosophical act is characterized by a clear distinction, between what is knowledge (Episteme) from what is not (Opinion or Doxa). 2. The philosophical act always has a normative, hierarchical dimension, i.e, in Marxism, materialism is the good, the certain, the objective, the superior, while idealism is the bad, the fallacious, the subjective, the inferior.

These two central points of the philosophical act are the reason why philosophy is conceived as «the eternal return of the same», since these two characteristics are considered as immutable in the philosophical act, through human history. This, says Badiou and according to Althusser, is the reason why philosophy is perceived as always the same thing, since each philosopher, in essence, always seeks to 1.differentiate and 2.establish a new categorial hierarchy. Nevertheless, not everything ends here.

For Althusser, as we have seen, philosophy is the eternal repetition of the same; however, Badiou adds, repetition, yes, but a creative one. When a philosopher makes new distinctions, where others saw analogies, or make new hierarchies where others saw subordinations, the act of creating a new entelechy takes place. A new truth appears.

In our particular context, we need a philosophical action oriented towards a creative repetition, due to the resurgence of an old dichotomy[4] that thought to be already outdated and that diminishes the unity of the Peruvian people. Reiteration of the Peruanist ideas, which dispersed, pray for a unification as a reminder of the progressive oblivion (we do not know if caused) of our civic and patriotic conscience; a creative reiteration, since it seeks to offer new approaches according to the Peruvian contemporaneity. This problematic denoted, was the breeding ground that foresaw the emergence of Crisolism in Peru, which linked to the absent political work of Peruvian social scientists, endorses the imperative need for a renewal and a new philosophy of action or as the Brazilian philosopher Flavia Virginia says, a metatheory of presence[5].

2. A new political and philosophical awake in Peru

Nowadays, the work of the social scientist in Peru seems, in the eyes of strangers and friends, absent. But what is a social scientist? It would be the first question. A social scientist, in the opinion of Lechago Buendía[6], would be a person who stands out in a field of knowledge and actively participates in public opinion with the aim of influencing the transformation and progress of the society in which he lives.

Within this description would enter some Peruvian thinkers like Hugo Neira, historian and sociologist, Director of SINAMOS[7] during the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces[8] (1968-1980). Augusto Salazar Bondy, essayist, educator and philosopher, Vice President of the Commission for the Reform of Education and president of the Superior Council of Education in the aforementioned period, as well as founder of the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP) together with Julio Cotler, anthropologist , sociologist and political scientist, who was director of the IEP. Bondy was, as Neira together with Cotler are, examples of social scientists in all their meaning.

Therefore, we can say that it is not enough to study a social science to be already in the category of social scientist. A social scientist is not only the person who has studied a social science, but also one who stands out in it for his contributions and research, also participating in the active transformation of society. For these reasons is that among the basic academic activities carried out by a social scientist, the publication stands out[9].

The second question we now ask ourselves is: Where are the social scientists in 21st century Peru? Where are those thinkers who seek to influence public opinion and transform today's society into a better version of itself?

Regrettably, that generation is retreating into an exacerbated academicism, maybe because of the senility or death of its founders, without greater involvement in the political arena.

Transforming reality, not only contemplating its ambiguities, is the authentic work of the social scientist. This, coupled with the lack of interest of the current governments in providing spaces for connection between thinkers and civil society, has diminished the level of visibility of social scientists in Peru.

Peruvian social scientists are reducing their work to the strict academic terrain, this relationated with the fear of social rejection and labor ostracism, which would imply their participation in political projects and social reforms, this situation is generating that, today, political parties are in a lack of doctrine, strategies and coherent programs. The decline of the Peruvian political parties, we endorse, is also determinate by the flight of thinkers and social scientists from them.

Due to this situations, and in order to amend them, investigations are being carried out in Peru, in such areas as political philosophy, metapolitics and geopolitics. For the sake of identifying the real obstacles that interfere with our progress as a nation, and to give with this the necessary tools for the institutionalization of a political project. It is the return of social scientists to the political arena, since today, far from the humanities, the Peruvian political parties are only political companies, prey to corruption, improvisation and clientelism.

Product of these investigations is that the proposal of a fourth Peruvian political theory, under the name of Crisolism, emerges.

3. In the ways of the fourth political theory of Alexander Dugin

The starting points of the research that led to the creation of Crisolism can be summarized into three:

(i) The overcoming of the identity dichotomies (indigenism-hispanism) in pursuit of a syncretic proposal (peruanism). Which in our context, we already had national references to this, from the hand of thinkers such as Belaunde[10], Wagner de Reyna[11], Fuenzalida[12] and Duthurburu[13] principally, whose foundations can be traced to the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega[14] vision, of a new identity. Made up of Hispanic, European and indigenous contributions, which is now enriched by the Amazonian, African and Asian culture. Dugin reaffirmed this view, in his work «The Logos of Ariel», trough the analysis of Brazilian society. That the identity of the peoples of Latin America corresponds to a cultural syncretism that forges a new identity.

(ii) The need for an ideological renewal in the face of the failure of all Peruvian political theories[15] to show themselves as alternatives to liberalism, a context that Dugin also denoted in his main work «The Fourth Political Theory». In Peru, this situation contributed to a total lack of interest in politics in the society, since all theories had the respective opportunities to translate their ideas into practice, but all failed to provide an idea of __modernity, which only Peruvian liberalism achieved. But in turn, is this same liberalism that the average Peruvian abhors by its essence, detached from cultural heritages, collective identities and national interests[16], attached to a economicist view supported by the GDP[17] and in a main productive activity, mining, but not in a productive diversification, and in the real increase of social conditions and general welfare.

(iii) The imperative need of a scientific methodology in the construction of political theories, that is, an ideology that guided by scientific assumptions provides greater predictability to programs and political proposals. It is no longer enough the simple promise, the blind faith that something will happen or not, but the effective empirical certainty, given by the political program A, because is supported by research and/or field work B. This due to the policy of false promises and economist pragmatism of Peruvian politics in general, totally de-ideologized and a-scientific, easy prey for economic lobbies. All this based on the invitation of the Argentine physicist and epistemologist Mario Bunge[18].

Derived from these three points, is that creative work begins. The construction of Crisolism as a theoretical system, and strictly related from the particular context of Peruvian society.

Crisolism as such, is a scientific socio-political ideology –or pretends to be one– under construction, which inspired in a certain way by the Fourth Political Theory of Alexander Dugin, proposes an independent political model as a contemporary alternative to the hegemonic models of development. This due to the failure of Conservatism, Communism and Fascism in the Peruvian political arena, to shown themselves as alternatives to Liberalism. Moreover, due to the constant conflict between Indigenism and Hispanism in the identity field, provides the necessary foundations for a new political theory in front of the prevailing and general de-ideologization of the parties and society, product of the current post-liberal vision.

4. The relevance of the Fourth Political Theory for Peru and Latin America: A new weltanschauung for the Americas

Despite the considerations of Fukuyama related to the decline of ideologies and their replacement by what the French philosopher Alain de Benoist calls governance, the exchange of a political vision by an apolitical economicist technocracy; political ideologies are alive and present today more than ever.

What is true in Fukuyama is that of all political ideologies, the one who have achieved total victory upon the others, after the fall of communism, is democratic liberalism[19]. For this reason it is spoken of an «End», understood as the defeat of the historic contenders of liberalism (conservatism, communism and fascism). But to speak about liberalism as if it were a political ideology is a contradiction itself, as a theory of economic essence, in other words, «liberalism is the doctrine by which the economic function was emancipated from the tutelage of the political and justified that emancipation. Faced with the State, liberalism manifests itself in a double form. On one hand, it makes a violent criticism, glosses its "inefficiency" and denounces the "dangers of power". On the other, and in a second stage, it strives to make it shift towards the economic sphere, in order to depoliticize it and reverse the old hierarchy of functions. As it develops, the economic caste attracts to itself the substance of the State, subordinating little by little the political decision to the economic imperatives»[20].

Due to this aforementioned essence of liberalism, that it depoliticizes and corrupts politics by bringing the scale to the favor of the economic sphere, (non-liberal) ideologies re-emerge to show themselves as alternatives. From our point of view, and reaffirming the invitation of the Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin[21], to the construction of a Fourth Political Theory of the 21th Century; the reanimation of the dead, can only create one thing according to urban culture, a zombie, and the response to liberalism, as we can see on a daily basis, continues to come from these 3 old and tired ideologies, already mentioned, and without relevant effects.

The great emerging powers have opted precisely for an ideological renewal, a clear example of this, we have it in the People's Republic of China with Xi Jinping whose Socialism with Chinese characteristics, moves away more and more from the Maoist essence, and follows the course initiated by Den Xiaoping, with effective results. The same path was followed by South Korea in the 70's, whose history of conservative parties from Democratic Justice to the current Saenuri Party, to make that great leap forward, had to bet on a new vision renewed, after the war that divided the nation. The same is the case of Singapore with the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew and with the Popular Action Party that since independence has ruled the country, moving from swamps to skyscrapers. Similar is the case of Vietnam or the Syria of Bashar al Assad.

But what is an ideology? Moreover, what is its use in the contemporary world? We will try to answer these questions very briefly.

An ideology, is what the German philosopher and sociologist Dilthey called a Weltanschauung or vision of the world, and in itself what Chatelet[22] defines as a more or less coherent system of images, ideas, ethical principles, global representations etc., which Bunge[23] sums up as a belief system, in particular of value judgments and statements of objectives.

Finally, the utility of an «ideology» and in this case «sociopolitical ideologies», is answered with concrete facts. Cases like those of China, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam, are the clear sample of the need of ideologies in the contemporaneity. If there is no vision of the world, if there is no prospective vision, if there is no philosophy as a country, if there is no future vision of how the country sees itself in time, there is no way to make progress. Peru does not have a contemporary ideology, is for this reason that it is stagnant, since no government has or has had a clear north, and that is precisely what an ideology offers, a north. Mission that as a research center we have proposed to achieve with the construction of Crisolism, as a Peruvian political ideology of the 21th Century.

With all mentioned, the relevance of the proposal of the Fourth Political Theory of Alexander Dugin is reaffirmed, as it provides the necessary inspiration and feedback for the development of a new weltanschauung for each nation of the American continent, with particular emphasis on the nations of Latin America. In our Peruvian case, the relevance lies in the nature of the invitation[24], which is configured as a call to original production and authenticity of thought. The dream of Mariategui, of a theoretical system without tracing or copying, that he attempt but could not systematize, due to the alienating nature of Marxist socialism, Crisolism is achieving it and in excess, but under an identitarian vision, and waving the flag of Patriotism and Peruanism.

[1] BADIOU, Alain. (2006). "Philosophy as creative repetition". In: The Sympton. Online Journal.[2] RUHLE, Volker. (2010). "Introductory study". In: HEGEL, G.W.F. Volume I. Editorial Gredos. pp. XI-CXVII.[3] BADIOU. Ibid.[4] In allusion to the debate between Indigenism and Hispanism on the real essence of the Peruvian identity.[5] VIRGINIA, Flavia. (2017) “The Realm of the Fourth Political Theory: Contributions”. En: Geopolitica.ru.[6] LECHAGO BUENDÍA, Francisco. (2015). "A social scientist, an intellectual?" In: El País newspaper.[7] National System of Aid to the Social Mobilization, organ of awareness, propaganda and political mobilization of Velasquismo during the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces.[8] General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrew the Liberal President Fernando Belaunde Terry in a military coup, constituting in place the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces that lasted from 1968 to 1980. General Velasco is remembered for a necessary Agrarian Reform but of nefarious consequences for the national economy, that accentuated conflicts and social divisions. In general, Velasquismo represented a new age of social reforms in Peru, the most of them historically needed.[9] VESSURI, Hebe. (2013). "Who is the social scientist in the 21st century? Comments from the academic and applied contexts and from the mainstream and the periphery ". In: Sociological Journal, year 28, number 79, pp. 201-231.[10] With his works "Peruvianness" and "The Alive Synthesis", published in 1942 and 1950 respectively. "Peruanism surpasses pure Hispanism and pure Indigenism ... (...). Peru is a living synthesis; biological synthesis (...), economic (...), political (...), spiritual (...). The Peruvians are Hispanists and Indigenist at the same time "(Belaunde, 1983).[11] With his work “Philosophy in Iberoamerica”, published in 1949. “In other words: the indigenous is the matter; the Ibero-Catholic, the form of our creole Occidentalism” (Wagner De Reyna, 1949, p.78).[12] With his work "The Agony of the Nation State: Power, Race and Ethnicity in Contemporary Peru", published in 1998.[13] With his work "Three Peruanist Essays", published in 1998.[14] With his declaration in his already famous Real Comments (1609): “A los Yndios, Mestizos y Criollos de los Reynos y Provincias del Grande y Riquissimo Ymperio del Perú, el Ynca Garcailaso de la Vega, su hermano, compatriota y paysano, salud y felicidad”. With Garcilaso, Duthurburu (2003) tells us, Peruvianness is born as a principle. Garcilaso felt Spanish in Peru, Indian in Spain and, finally, a Peruvian half-blood in the universal field.[15] Aprism, Peruvian Anarchism, Mariateguism, Urrism, etc.[16] BENOIST, Alain. (2002). "Critique of the liberal ideology".[17] Gross Domestic Product[18] BUNGE. (1985). «Pseudoscience and ideology». Editorial Alliance.[19] “What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government” (Fukuyama, 1989)[20] BENOIST, Alain. (2002). Ibid.[21] DUGIN, Alexander. (2013). "The Fourth Political Theory". New Republic Editions.[22] CHATELET, Francois, MAIRET, Gerard. (2008). "History of ideologies: from the pharaohs to mao". University Akal Editorial.[23] BUNGE, Mario. (1985). Ibid.[24] "There is only one solution: reject classical political theories, both defeated and triumphant, demonstrate imagination, understand the realities of the new global world, correctly decipher the challenges of the postmodern world and create something new, beyond the political battles of the XIX and XX centuries. This approach is an invitation to develop a Fourth Political Theory beyond communism, fascism and liberalism "(Dugin, 2013, p.24). To which we add, from our particular Peruvian context, the premise of “...beyond Indigenism and Hispanism”.

The Fourth Political Theory treats the concept “narod” as an independent legal and philosophical category, beyond its interpretations in the context of the three political theories of Modernity. But the “narod” is understood existentially, as Dasein. Heidegger’s formula “Dasein existiert völkisch” is key. The Fourth Political Theory understands the narod, the populus, as Dasein, Volk als Dasein. That makes the phenomenon of populism not indistinct, chaotic, and spontaneous, but deeply grounded, philosophical, and avant-garde. In this case, the Fourth Political Theory can be regarded as a “metaphysics of populism,” explaining its appearance and supplying the blind protest of humanity against the satanic elite that has seized power over it with a strategy, consciousness, thought, a system, and a plan of struggle.

To conclude this preface to the Italian edition, I want to emphasize: the Fourth Political Theory appeals to everyone – to traditionalists, socialists, liberals, conservatives, persons with convictions and persons without convictions. It is an invitation to think, and not the imposition of ready-made judgments or models. Our goal is to awaken in Italian society an interest towards political philosophy, towards ideas and towards an acute – truly Italian – perception of reality.